Retro Fatty

Tuesday, 21 July 2015

First of all I know this post is way overdue and for many 3DS users their firmware will have been updated to far for the MT-Card to be useful, but for those like myself who have not updated the System Software on their 3DS I hope this guide will be useful.

My main reasons for writing these guides are so that I can share information/experiences which I have learned along the way and also so that I can look back and see how I achieved certain things.
(my memory ain't what it used to be folks).

In this instance I found loads of guides out there, but they always seem to be lacking some info and so as always I will my best to break everything down as much as possible.

Here goes...

In order to be able to use MT-Card for 3DS or any other Flash Cart of this sort your 3DS must be running a firmware (System Software) version 4.1 to 4.5 if you are running a later version this will not work for you.

Also this guide is for educational purposes only and I take no responsibility for any damage to your console and in no way support piracy and encourage you to only use ROMS of games you legally own. (gotta love legal disclaimers huh).

Just a quick note on the MT-Card itself: I am no expert but I believe that the MT-Card is basically a clone of the earlier Gateway card, but they removed some of the code that was "bricking" certain consoles and refined the card in other ways such as adding a psychical ROM selection switch.
There are some features missing though, one of which being the "Gateway Mode" which allowed you to do certain tweaks to the firmware which I will discuss in my next post (Manually Updating 3DS Firmware).

The MT-Card is also getting quite hard to find as most suppliers have sold out and the company itself seems to have disappeared. Which also sadly means no more updates and the website for the card is down. I did however have the foresight to save all of the downloads from their page and I will make those available for you to download in the post as you will need them to continue with this tutorial.

*Please make sure your 3DS is plugged into the mains at all times during
this whole process, if the battery dies part way through your 3DS could
end up becoming damaged.
**Also please backup any data stored on your 3DS's SD Card or any of the MicroSD Cards you are going to use during this process as all data will be destroyed.
*** Turn of the Wifi on your 3DS before proceeding.

Ok the first thing we are going to want to do is upgrade the MT-Card "Yellow Card" to the latest firmware version (2.0) you can download the latest MT-Card firmware here
Once you have downloaded the file "MT_Card_Updater v2.0.exe" and saved it to your computer (I recommend saving to the Desktop as it makes it easy to find and you can always move it later), you need to right-click it and left click on "Run as administrator".
You should now have a small window open. You will notice the word "Upgrade" at the top is greyed out, this is because the software is waiting for you to connect the MT-Card to your PC.
Using a standard Micro-USB cable connect the MT-Card to your computer (The Micro-USB socket on the MT-Card is on the top edge next to the Micro-SD Card slot). The cable can only go in one way and the blue led on top of the MT-Card will light up when it is correctly connected.
Windows will make lots of beeps as it detects and finds the correct drivers, this is normal so don't panic. Once the drivers have been installed, the Upgrade button in the MT_Card_Updater v2.0 window should no longer be greyed out.
Left-Click the "Update" button. It will say "Waiting driver install:" and count up to 30.
You will then get a message saying "Do you want to update your MT_Card firmware from ver:1.3 (this will vary depending on your current version) to ver:2.0? Please don't disconnect when updating!!!"
Obviously we want to click "Yes"
The blue bars will now start going across (after the first one there will be another waiting for drivers message this is fine).
This process will take some time just stick with it and do not disconnect your cable otherwise you might damage the MT-Card.
Once the update is complete you will get a message confirming: "Update Success"
Click "Ok" and close MT_Card_Updater v2.0 program.
You can now safely disconnect the Micro USB cable from the MT-Card and put both to one side.

Now we need to work on the "Blue Card" this card is a clone of an R4i (or similar) and is only used during this stage in order to run an exploit which allows the MT-Card to work.
Start by downloading the latest version of the Blue Card software (version 2.3) here
Again I recommend saving the file to the desktop, making it easier to find.
You will then need to unzip the file you can use the built in Windows unzip for this or download a free trial of Winrar here

Simply right-click on the file "BlueCard.zip" and left-click "Extract Here" or "Extract Files".
Once you have extracted "BluCard.zip" you will have a folder of the same name. We now need to copy the contents of the folder (not the folder itself) to a MicroSD card.
Pretty much any MicroSD card will do for this job as the files are small and speed doesn't really matter.
Insert the MicroSD card into it's SD Card adapter and insert that into your Card Reader. (If your card reader is able to accept MicroSD Cards directly then obviously you don't need the adapter, but many don't because of the small size of the cards.
Now insert the Card Reader into your PC and go to "Computer" "My Computer or "This PC" (depending on your version of Windows).
Check which drive letter has been assigned to the SD Card you just inserted, in my case it is listed as "Removable Disk (F:)" so the drive letter is F.
We need to format the SD-Card using Fat32 format.
The Windows formatting tool is fine on cards up to 32gb
Right-Click the "Removable Disk" and Left-Click "Format"
Make sure File system is set to "FAT32 (Default)" and Allocation unit size is set to "Default allocation size"
Check "Quick Format" and then Click "Start"
You will get a message: "WARNING: Formatting will erase ALL data on this disk. To format the disk, click OK. To quit, click CANCEL.
Click "OK"
Once finished you will get a message saying "Format Complete."
Click "OK" and then Click "Close" on the formatting tool.
Now go back to the "BlueCard" Folder we extracted earlier and select all the files and "_rpg" Folder inside the folder (CTRL & A on the keyboard).
Next Copy the selection (CTRL & C on the keyboard).
Back in "Computer" Double-Click on the "Removable Disk" (this should be empty as we just formatted it).
Paste into the empty drive (CTRL & V on the keyboard).
Within a few seconds all of the files from the "BlueCard" Folder should be copied to the "Removable Disk".
You should have the following:
_rpg (Folder)
_DS_MENU.DAT
_DSMENU.DAT
changelog.txt
MT_INSTALLER.NDS
readme.txt
Go back to "Computer" and Right-Click the "Removable Disk" and Left-Click on "eject".
Once the computer tells you it safe to remove the drive, you can disconnect the Card Reader from you PC.

The next stage is to run the exploit on the 3DS itself...

Insert the MicroSD Card we just prepared into the "Blue Card" (the MicroSD Card Slot is on the back of the Blue Card near the top).
The Card can only go in one way but don't force it. The writing on the MicroSD Card should be facing you (away from the Blue Card).
Now insert the "Blue Card" into the 3DS/3DS XL just as you would any standard game and turn on the console.
The "game" should appear on the 3DS as "Spongebob's Atlantis Squarepantis THQ". Open this game by pressing on the icon.
You will get a screen come up with a wood effect background.
On the bottom screen you will be see "_rpg" Folder and "MT_INSTALLER.NDS"
Press down once on the D-Pad and select "MT_INSTALLER.NDS" then press A button

You will get a blue screen with 2 options:
>> MT-Card 3DS Installer

>> PRESS (A) TO CONTINUE
>> PRESS (B) TO EXIT

Press A to continue.

>> SELECT CONSOLE REGION

>> EUR/USA/JAP/KOR
>>TAIWAN
>> CHINA (iQUE)

I am in Europe so EUR/USA/JAP/KOR is the option I need, this is selected by default so just press A to continue.
It should now install the exploit:

>> PROGRAMMING [**********]
>> VERIFYING [**********]
>> OK !

** DONE! ENJOY MT-CARD! **
>> PRESS [A] TO EXIT

Press A and you will get the "Software closed." Screen.
Press "Power Off" on the bottom screen and the 3DS will shut down. The exploit is now done.
(Sometimes the 3DS will freeze during the >> PROGRAMMING [*** ] if this happens, just power down the 3DS using the power button as you normally would and try again. It may take a few attempts but it will work so still with it).
Once the 3DS has powered down you can remove the "Blue Card" and put it to one side. We should not need it again, but you should keep hold of it in case you ever need to reinstall the exploit for any reason or if you wish to use it for running NDS ROMS.

Next we have to install the "Launcher" File which will allow the MT-Card to load and make use of the exploit.

We need to remove the SD Card from the 3DS/3DS XL.
The SD Card slot is on the bottom side of your 3DS (underneath) on the Right Hand Side as you look at the machine when playing it.
Once you have removed the SD Card from your system, insert it into the Card Reader and plug the Card Reader into your PC.
As before with the MicroSD Card the computer will read the SD Card as "Removable Disk" with a drive letter. You need to open the "Removable Disk" by double-clicking on it in "Computer" "My Computer" or "This PC" and once you have it open you will see a Folder named "Nintendo 3DS".

Download the file "SD-Card.zip" here
Again I recommend saving the file to the desktop, making it easier to
find. You will then need to unzip the file you can use the built in
Windows unzip for this or download a free trial of Winrar here.

Simply right-click on the file "SD-Card.zip" and left-click "Extract Here" or "Extract Files".
Once
you have extracted "SD-Card.zip" you will have 2 files: "cheat.dat" & "Launcher.dat"
The "Launcher.dat" file utilizes the exploit we installed earlier and allows the MT-Card to run, this is the latest version 2.3.
Right-Click on "cheat.dat" and Left-Click "Copy"
Back in "Removable Disk" (the one with the Nintendo 3DS Folder).
Right-Click inside the Window anywhere below the "Nintendo 3DS" Folder and Left-Click "Paste"
The file "cheat.dat" should now copy over onto your 3DS's SD Card.
Repeat the process for the file "Launcher.dat"
Now you should have the "Nintendo 3DS" Folder and the two files "cheat.dat" and "Launcher.dat" on the SD Card.
Go back to "Computer" and Right-Click the "Removable Disk" and Left-Click on "eject".
Once the computer tells you it safe to remove the drive, you can disconnect the Card Reader from you PC.
You can now remove the SD Card from the Card Reader and Re-Insert it back into your 3DS/3DS XL.

On to the next stage...
We need to format our second MicroSD Card at this point.
This is the MicroSD Card you are going to use to store our 3DS ROMS etc
so it needs to be a separate card to the one we used earlier for the
"Blue Card":
Insert the MicroSD card into it's SD Card adapter and insert that
into your Card Reader.
Now insert the Card Reader into your PC and go to "Computer" "My Computer or "This PC" (depending on your version of Windows).
Check
which drive letter has been assigned to the SD Card you just inserted,
in my case it is listed as "Removable Disk (F:)" so the drive letter is
F.
We again need to format the SD-Card using Fat32 format.
Right-Click the "Removable Disk" and Left-Click "Format"
Make sure File system is set to "FAT32 (Default)" and Allocation unit size is set to "Default allocation size"
Check "Quick Format" and then Click "Start"
You
will get a message: "WARNING: Formatting will erase ALL data on this
disk. To format the disk, click OK. To quit, click CANCEL.
Click "OK"
Once finished you will get a message saying "Format Complete."
Click "OK" and then Click "Close" on the formatting tool.
Go back to "Computer" and Right-Click the "Removable Disk" and Left-Click on "eject".
Once the computer tells you it safe to remove the drive, you can disconnect the Card Reader from you PC.

Insert your second MicroSD Card into the MT-Card "Yellow Card". (the MicroSD Card Slot is on the back of the Yellow Card near the top).
The Card can only go in one way but don't force it. The writing on the
MicroSD Card should be facing you (away from the Yellow Card).
Insert the MT-Card "Yellow Card" into your 3DS and power on as normal.
It will show "The is nothing inserted into the Game Card slot" this is normal as the 3DS cannot read the card on it's Original NAND firmware.
Press on "System Settings" (On Screen)
On the Top Screen (bottom right) you will see your 3DS Firmware version. (In my case "Ver. 4.5.0-10E") (the "E" tells me it is a European version of the 3DS).
Press on "Other Settings" (On Screen)
Press on "Profile" (On Screen)
Now hold down "L" (Bumper Button) whilst you Press on "Nintendo DS Profile" (On Screen)
Keep hold of the "L" (Bumper Button) until you get to the "MT-Card Screen".
You should now have a picture of a shark on the Top Screen and the Launcher Ver: 2.3

Yay it's all worked!!!

Now to the technical stuff...

The NAND is a section of the 3DS's Flash memory which is specific and unique to each 3DS console.
It contains information such as CPU Keys and Serial Numbers which are communicated between the hardware and the software elements in order to try and prevent the software from being modified.
We are going to backup the NAND and then use the backup to create a "Virtual NAND" or "EmuNAND" on the 3DS SD Card.
Once completed we will then use the "EmuNAND" for everything we want to do with the MT-Card (ROMS, Homebrew etc) leaving the Original NAND untouched and clean...

On the bottom screen, you will have 10 round icons.
Using the D-Pad Select the 4th option on the Top Row "Backup NAND"
Press "A" Button
You should get a message: "Do you want to backup 3DS NAND to SD?"
Press "Start" Button to proceed (this process takes a few minutes so bear with it, the NAND is approx 1GB in size so takes a while to copy).
Approx 8 minutes later it should tell you "Finished" "Press [A] or [B] to EXIT"
Press "A" Button and you should arrive back at the "MT-Card Screen" again
This time use the D-Pad to go one more icon further along 5th on the Top Row "Format Emu NAND"
Press "A" Button
You should get a message: "WARNING: ALL the SD card files will be LOST!!!" "ARE you sure you want to format the SD card?"
Press
"Start" Button followed by the "B" Button to proceed (this process also takes a few minutes so bear
with it, it is not only formatting but also copying our NAND over to the SD Card in order to create our "Virtual or EmuNAND").
Approx 8 minutes later it should tell you "Finished" "Press [A] or [B] to EXIT"
Press "A" Button and you should arrive back at the "MT-Card Screen" again
Power Down the 3DS by pressing and holding the Power Button for approx 5 seconds

You should be back at the "Home Screen" however you are now running on the EmuNAND
Press on "System Settings" (On Screen)
On the Top Screen
(bottom right) you will see your 3DS Firmware version has changed.
In my case it now reads "MT3D
4.5.0-10" (The MT3D confirms that you are running on the EmuNAND).

Anything you want to do in terms of Homebrew, ROMS etc should always be used in the EmuNAND.
By keeping the original NAND untouched, we are able to make a new EmuNAND anytime using the same procedure as above.
In the event of loading some bad software for example, we could simply recreate the EmuNAND and start again without any risk of corrupting the Original NAND and bricking the 3DS.

Once you have confirm that the EmuNAND is working correctly, close "System Settings" and you will be returned to the "Home Screen" however be aware that it has returned you to the Original NAND so you will have to enter the EmuNAND again.

You should now be back in the EmuNAND.
I recommend changing the layout of the "Home Screen Icons" on your EmuNAND so that you are able to quickly tell the two NAND versions apart.
For example I always have "System Settings" as the first icon on my Original NAND as I have to use that button all the time for getting into my EmuNAND. I then put the "System Settings" icon on the far Right on my EmuNAND as I hardly ever have to use it on there and it helps me differentiate between the two NANDs.

Ok so your MT-Card is now setup and ready to go.
In order to run ROMS, you simply need to copy the .3ds files on to your MicroSD which you have inserted into your "Yellow Card" and then load your EmuNAND with the "Yellow Card" inserted into your 3DS and press the "Select" button to choose which ROM you wish to load. The ROM will then appear as though you have inserted the original game cartridge and you are good to play.
It's worth noting that the MT-Card will display the ROM files in the order they were added to the card, not in alphabetical order (weird huh).

A few months back this would have been the end of the tuturial, however there has been alot of 3DS updates since firmware 4.1 to 4.5 and many of the ROMS require a higher firmware to run.
Once upon a time you would have simply connected to the Wifi and downloaded the update from Nintendo on to your EmuNAND, however this is no longer possible as they are now on firmware version 9.9.0-26 (as of writing this tutorial) and the EmuNAND can only support up to version 9.4 (9.5 does work but many functions are missing so 9.4 is the best bet).

Please read my next guide here to learn how to Manually Update the 3DS Firmware to Ver. 9.4

I really hope this post has helped some people out.
Please comment and let me know.

Friday, 3 July 2015

I can't believe this is my first post in over 2 years!!
Where does time go?
I have been meaning to keep my blog updated with techie hints and tips, but life just took over I guess.
So I plan to start up again, firstly beginning with a look into the world of 3DS hacks/homebrew and firmware and then see where things go from there.
I will also try and do a better job of responding to comments in the future, so please don't be a stranger.

Monday, 18 February 2013

Welcome to my guide for installing Chrubuntu (Ubuntu 10.4) into the new Samsung Series 3 Chromebook (Arm Processor).

This guide has been compiled using many different sources and I take no credit for the amazing work that Jay Lee @ chromeos-cr48.blogspot.co.uk has done in porting Ubuntu over to the Chromebook and making it a genuinely usable system.

If you wish to donate to the project, please do so on his site and not to me as I am only providing an install guide.

At this time the project is at "Alpha" stage (this is actually the first release "Alpha 1"), therefore you can't expect the experience to be perfect but with the fixes I am going to help you through, it won't be far off.

Also I just want to make it clear that this guide is intended to help you install Chrubuntu onto your Chromebook and install some of the fixes (such as audio). I have tested this method several times with no problems and it took a lot of trial and error to get it right, but I do not take any responsibly for any damage or loss of data that you may experience as a result of using this method.

Now that we have the legal bit and the thank you's out of the way let's have fun....

Please make sure you are connected to a power supply before you begin.Also make sure you have backed up any important data on your Chrome OS partition as this will be erased...First thing you need to do is create restore media for your Chromebook in case anything should go wrong or if you wish to restore your Chromebook at a later time.

I recommend using a USB flash drive, however you can also use an SD card if you wish.

Tip: Never use cheap memory for important backups, I would always use a trusted brand such as Sandisk etc. Also be aware there are a number of "fakes" out there especially on auction sites so always stick to trusted dealers if you want the genuine product. (It's not always worth the savings you can make buying the products cheaper). Same goes for the media you are going to use to install Chrubuntu later on. I would recommend using a branded product and ideally Class 10 to give you Optimal read/write speeds:

Class 4 = 4mbs Class 10=10mbs and so on.

Ok so I am only at the first stage and I am already waffling, but this is important info in the long run. Anyway back to our Chromebook....

So insert your media into either the USB or SD slot and open a new Chrome window.

Type "chrome://imageburner" into the omnibox (browser's address bar).Follow the on-screen instructions, it will download the necessary files and create your recovery/restore media.

Once you have your restore USB flash or SD card you can remove it and put it somewhere safe in the hope that you will never need to use it.

Moving onto our next task which is getting the Chromebook into "Developer Mode" this uses the "Developer Bios" and is intended for those creating new software etc for the device, however it gives us the opportunity to change various settings (including setting an alternate boot device yay)!

Make sure your Chromebook is switched off.
Press and hold "Esc" and "Refresh keys" (Refresh is where F3 would be on traditional keyboard).
Whilst holding the "Esc" and "Refresh" keys, power on the Chromebook.
You will now come to a screen stating "Chrome OS is missing or damaged. Please insert a recovery USB stick or SD card."

Tip: If you ever want to recover your Chromebook this would be the point that you would insert the recovery disk we created earlier.
Press "CTRL" and "D" keys together

You will now get a screen with the message "To turn OS verification OFF, press ENTER".

Press "Enter"

When Chromebook reboots press "Ctrl+D" to enter Developer Mode.
You will get a screen with gives you the following "Preparing the system for Developer Mode"
This process takes a few minutes so please bear with it and DO NOT power off your machine.

At this point the Chromebook is reverting to factory "Out Of The Box" settings.
On my machine this process took approx 16 mins (you do get a progress bar at the top of the screen).
When the Chromebook reboots, press "CTRL+D" your machine will boot into ChromeOS.

Now select your language & keyboard settings
You need to enter your wireless network key and connect to your network (internet).
DO NOT click "Continue" instead on your keyboard press "Ctrl+Alt+=>" (=> is the right arrow next to the refresh key on the left of the keyboard where F2 would traditionally be).
This will take you to a "Terminal" screen and will ask you for localhost login:
Enter "chronos" (without the speech marks) and press "Enter"

Insert the storage device on which you want to install Chrubuntu (if using USB be sure to sure the 2.0 port (Black) not the 3.0 (Blue) as this does not support booting).

You must type one of the following commands (followed by pressing "Enter"):

SD Card

wget http://goo.gl/34v87; sudo bash 34v87 /dev/mmcblk1

USB Flash Drive

wget http://goo.gl/34v87; sudo bash 34v87 /dev/sda

You will be asked to press "Enter" twice, once to confirm that you are running the ARM Chromebook and secondly to confirm that you understand all data on your USB device will be erased.

Now your Chromebook will start downloading the Chrubuntu Operating System!
The download is split into 52 files and each file contains 100mb of data (actual size of file varies from 1mb to 99mb depending on compression) so as you can appreciate this takes a while.
Good time to go make coffee I think....

Process took 51 minutes on my Chromebook to give you an idea.

When machine reboots, you will be back at the "OS verification is off" screen.
You need to press "CTRL+U" and this will boot the Chromebook into Chrubuntu.
OK so that is the Chrubuntu (Ubuntu 12.04LTS) Operating System installed on your Chromebook.
Your password is "user" (without quotation marks) but can be changed.

I recommend rebooting the Chromebook and then getting all of the Ubuntu updates before continuing (just as a matter of good practice).

From now on anytime that your Chromebook reboots you will be presented with the
"OS verification is off" screen:

"CTRL+U" Takes you to Chrubunutu"CTRL+D" Takes you to Chrome OS

If for any reason you decided to exit out of Developer mode you will need to enter the following command to boot back into Chrubuntu:

sudo crossystem dev_usb_boot=1

Now for the fixes....

So this is when we are reminded that this is an Alpha release and therefore not perfect.
The following work right away:

However the sound does not work and this is the first fix I am going to guide you through.

YOU MUST FOLLOW THIS EXACTLY OTHERWISE YOU COULDDAMAGE YOUR SPEAKERS.

Open a new terminal window "CTRL+ALT+T" and type "alsamixer" (without quotation marks) and then hit "Enter".
You will get the AlsaMixer v1.0.25 mixer screen.
At the bottom of the window you will see Headphone and Speaker options, notice that Headphone is in red with indicates that it is the item selected.
Navigate through this program using your arrow keys (Do not use scroll on your mouse as this will alter the levels which you do not want to do).

Start by pressing the right arrow until "Left Speaker Mixer Left DAC1" is selected in red.
List is alphabetical so you will know when it is coming up, but if you do miss it just hit the left arrow to go back.
You will notice that the box above contains the letters MM this means that the channel is muted.
This is what we need to change. Press the "M" key and the MM should change to 00
You have successfully enabled the channel. Do the same thing with the following channels:
"Left Speaker Mixer Right DAC1"
"Right Speaker Mixer Left DAC1"
"Right Speaker Mixer Right DAC1"
Now we will enabled the headphone output, same process enable the following:
"Left Headphone Mixer Left DAC1"
"Left Headphone Mixer Right DAC1"
"Right Headphone Mixer Left DAC1"
"Right Headphone Mixer Right DAC1"

Now press "Esc" and you should be back at the terminal screen.
At this point we have all of the settings in place but we have to save otherwise Ubuntu will forget next time we reboot and we will have to enter all of this again. Type the following command:

sudo alsactl store

You will be prompted for your password so just enter that and your settings will be stored.
Exit terminal.
Now go to the speaker icon on the top right of your screen (next to the clock) left click and go to "Sound Settings". Underneath where it says "Play sound through" select "Speakers" and test the sound using the volume slider.
If it's not working go back through and make sure you enabled all of the correct channels.
If you did everything right you should have sound! Yay!
Close the Sound Settings window and you're done.

Now to sort the touchpad and get it working much better.
As I'm sure you have noticed by now, the touchpad works but is far from perfect (very laggy etc).
Here is a straight forward guide to making it work correctly:It is very important that once you start this process, you do not reboot until it has completed otherwise you could damage your Chrubuntu installation.

Open a terminal window "CTRL+ALT+T" and enter the following commands
(Pressing "Enter" after each line):

When asked "replace 10-evdev.conf" type "y" for yes.By default this is set to UK keyboard, if you wish to change this type the following command:sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-keyboard.confPress "Enter" and you will see a config screen. Simply change "gb" for your country ie. "us" and close terminal.Reboot the machine and you should have a perfectly working touchpad. Woohoo!If you have tried to load any flash sites or videos (youtube is a good example) you will have been meet with a message telling you that the flash plugin is missing and you need to install, however when you try and install missing plugin you find that it is not available for the ARM architecture,you can't download it from the Ubuntu Software Center either.Luckily you have a version that will work right at your fingertips (the one that came with Chrome OS). This took me a while to work out but here is the guide:I have done the hardest part for you (extracting the flash player from Chome OS) so you can download it directlyhereNow extract the "flashplayerarm.tar.gz" file you just downloaded and you should have two files, "default" and "libpepflashplayer.so" I am going to assume you extracted them to the Desktop but if you extracted them elsewhere then just alter this guide accordingly.Open a terminal window "CTRL+ALT+T" and type the following commands:cd Desktopsudo cp libpepflashplayer.so /usr/lib/chromium-browser/pluginssudo cp default /etc/chromium-browserexitEnter your password when prompted and that's it Flash Player should be installed.For now this only works with Chromium/Chrome as Firefox are not supporting this project but hopefully a fix will come soon for all you Mozilla users.Next we are going to change the password on your Chrubuntu installation, this is optional but highly recommended.One of the glitches I have found is that I am unable to access the "User Accounts" option is system settings so in order to change your password you will need to use terminal.Open Terminal "CTRL+ALT+T" and type:

passwd user
"user" represents the username you wish to change which is user by default.It will prompt you for your current password and then ask you to enter new password and confirm.That's it!So now you should have a nicely working Chrubuntu install.I will post updates as they become available.There is currently no hardware video acceleration or on-board webcam support but hopefully they will be with us soon.I case you were wondering...I prefer USB/SD installation because it does not affect the 16gb storage allocated to Chrome OS and therefore allows that to be used to it's full potential. It also allows me to simply switch between the Operating Systems by using either the "CTRL+D" command for Chrome OS or "CTRL+U" for Chrubuntu.I may write a guide in the future for installing to the internal storage.I hope you found this guide helpful and thanks to all the people that made this possible.Keep Rockin'

Note: The chmod +x command grants root (admin access to the file).Sudo is equivalent to run as administrator.Now you should get a standard install window and you just need to follow the prompts.Next download the file "vmwarepatch901.tar.gz" hereYou must use the patch otherwise you will get: Virtual Network Device error: "Unable to start services. See log file /tmp/vmware-root/mdconfig-23331.log for details".Do not try and load VMWare Player yet.Extract the file "vmwarepatch901.tar.gz" to your "home" folder. Once completed your home folder should contain the 2 files "patch-modules_3.2.0.sh" and "vmware3.2.0.patch.In terminal type the following commands:cdsudo ~/patch-modules_3.2.0.shThe patch should now install (ignore any fails).Exit terminal.You can now delete the 2 files from your home directory as you are finished with those.

Test VMWare player and make sure it works.Job Done!!

Now we have VMWare Player installed and modified, we can concentrate on getting MAC OSX 10.8 running on our Linux system.

Download the file: "tools901.tar.gz" hereExtract the file ie. Desktop\tools\ and then you should have the following:"darwin.iso" "darwin.iso.sig" "install.sh" "uninstall.sh" "Unlocker.Linux32" and "Unlocker.Linux64"Open teminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)Navigate the folder where you extracted "tools901.tar.gz"Use "chmod +x" command on all of the files (UnLocker.Linux32 not required for 64-Bit installation).Now use the command:

sudo sh install.sh

This should unlock the Mac OSX features in VMWare and also copy the files "darwin.iso" and "darwin.iso.sig" to the directory /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/ where they are needed later.Exit terminal.

Now for the exciting part....

Load VMWare Player.Select "Open a Virtual Machine"Navigate to the location of your MAC OSX Mountain Lion VMWare Image and click "Open"Go to "Edit virtual machine settings"Setting amount of RAM (I recommend at least 2gb) (I use 4096mb) and hit "Save"Go back to "Edit virtual machine settings"Under "Processors" select the amount of cores you wish to assign to Virtual Machine (2+ is best)I tend to leave Virtualization settings to "Automatic" (You must have Hardware Virtualization enabled in your bios to do this).

If you do not have Hardware Virtualization available then there is a software patch for this which I will go into at some other point but that does affect hardware performance.Most modern processors i3/i5/17 etc support this.

Once you have selected settings hit "Save" again and it's time to test. Woohooo!

When prompted "This virtual machine might have been moved or copied" select "I copied it"

Now we need to install the drivers for your "Mac".

Shut down the Mac Virtual Machine and once VMWare has closed, restart it and select "Edit virtual machine settings" on your OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion image.Go to CD/DVD (IDE) and select "Use ISO Image"Browse to the "tools" folder you created earlier, find darwin.iso and select "Open"Hit "Save" and then "Play virtual machine"

Once Mac has booted open "Finder" and under "Devices" select "VMWare Tools" and Double-Click "Install VMWare Tools".Follow the On-Screen prompts.You will get a message saying "The Installation Failed" ignore this (it worked) just click "Close" and restart the "Mac".You should now have the drivers installed and be able to increase the display resolution etc.

Next time you reboot go back into "Edit virtual machine settings" and change "Use ISO image" to "Use a physical drive" so that you are able to run discs as normal. "Save" and "Play virtual machine" again.

Note:When you boot your virtual machine you may get a message stating that vmware needs to create folder ~/.vmware to save preferences, here is the fix:

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type:

sudo chown -R user:root ~/.vmware

Please substitute "user" for your own username.This will change the permissions and allow VMWare to access the folder.

Please comment if you found this guide helpful, I will be making a video once I get my YouTube channel all up and running.I will tidy the guide up over the next few days as I am sure the grammar is all over the place, but just wanted to get it out of my head and onto the web!

This gives you a list of the VMWare products currently installed.Next type:sudo vmware-installer -u vmware-playerI am running Ubuntu 12.04 Linux.Linux and Mac OSX 10.8 on Windows 7 guides to follow...This works on both Intel (Core2Duo+) and AMD processors.32 Bit version available however Snow Leopard+ requires 64-BitYou must have Hardware Virtualization. Otherwise you will require software mod (instructions coming soon).

Sunday, 27 January 2013

Although this is mostly going to be a blog based around computing, I am also going to sharing my other interest with you guys...
Game consoles!!!
In the future I will put up a tutorial regarding installation of custom firmware onto your PS3 console but before I get to that here is some help for those of you who already have custom firmware 4.30 etc installed and are having the following message when you attempt to install PSN content:
"An error occured during the start operation. (80010017)".
Basically this error is caused because the package you are trying to run has not been "signed" for use with firmware higher than 3.55.
In order to get around this you need to manually resign the "EBOOT.BIN" file within the package and then everything should work fine.
You may also need to obtain an up-to-date patch for the game and I will provide a list of those (if required) but they are available from all the normal sources.
You will need an ftp program (I recommend Filezilla Client as it is free and works really well).
Download the latest version here
Also you will need the program 4.21 Eboot Redesigner (works fine with 4.30+) Download it here

Ok now that you have everything you need, we can get started...

Go into multiman (guide to install will follow) on your PS3 and find your IP address (it should be located on the bottom of the screen. If not then click LB or RB on the controller to change your view.
Please make sure your internet connection is enabled and on the same network as your PC otherwise this won't work.
Once you have the IP address, open Filezilla Client. In the top left where it says "host" type in your IP address ie. 192.168.1.66 then simply click "quickconnect" no username or password required.
If you haven't already extracted the "4.21 Eboot Redesigner.zip", do that now and navigate to that folder on the left hand side of Filezilla.
On the right side you will see the directory structure of the PS3.
You will need to click on "dev_hdd0" and within that folder you need to enter a folder called "game".
Inside this folder there should be lots of other folders with names like "NPUB30377" each one of these folders represents a game or program installed on your PS3's internal hard drive.
You need to find the one that pertains to the game you are trying to fix (google is your friend).
If you really can't find the info then you can always go through the folders one by one and checkout the icon png files until you find the correct one for your game. If you still have the original pkg file then they usually include the game code within the title of the file.
Once you have located the correct folder for the game you are trying to fix there are 2 areas of interest, the first in the file "PARAM.SFO", you will find this in the root of your folder. The second is "EBOOT.BIN" which is the file we are going to patch. You will normally find "EBOOT.BIN" in the "USRDIR" folder.
Download both the "PARAM.SFO" and"EBOOT.BIN" files into the "4.21Eboot Redesigner" folder and delete the "EBOOT.BIN" from the USRDIR on the PS3 as you will no longer need this file once you have transferred it to the PC.
Minimize Filezilla Client for now and go into the folder "4.21 Eboot Redesigner," double click the file "PARAM.SFO" and open with notepad. This will open a jumbled text document but inside you will find the name of the game most importantly for this process, the game code of the title in question ie "NPUB30377".
Select the code and copy it then you can close the notepad document.
Now run the file "redesigner.bat", a command prompt window will open and ask you to input a selection 1, 2 or 0. Choose "2" for "NPDRM Eboot redesign". Next it will ask you to input the file "EBOOT.BIN" into the folder, but as we have already done this you can simply press enter.
When asked for Content-ID right click in the window and left click paste followed by enter to input the code you copied earlier from "PARAM.SFO".
The process will then take place quite quickly and then next dialogue will ask you to input selection, this time enter "0" to exit and the command prompt will close.
You should now have an extra file in your folder named "EBOOT.BIN.BAK" this is a backup of the original "EBOOT.BIN" file and should not be needed again, the one we are interested in is the "EBOOT.BIN" file.
Go back into Filezilla and make sure that you are still inside the "USRDIR" folder. Drag and drop the "EBOOT.BIN" file from the left hand side "4.21 Eboot Redesigner" folder into the "USRDIR" folder on your PS3. If you did not delete the "EBOOT.BIN" file before it will now ask you which action you wish to take and you just need to select "overwrite".
Quit multiman on your PS3 and try to reload the game you have just fixed.
You should find it now works perfectly!!! Yay!
You can now close Filezilla Client on your computer and delete the files "EBOOT.BIN", "EBOOT.BIN.BAK" and "PARAM.SFO" from your "4.21 Eboot Resdesigner" directory so that it is clear for the next time you wish to use it.

That's it, the process is the same for any PSN games giving you the error code 80010017.
I will make a Youtube video on this soon as it is much easier done in reality then it seems written down (the whole process only takes a couple of minutes) but I have tried to be as thorough as possible as other guides I have read have missed important steps.

This is the first of what will be many posts on this blog.
I hope to be able to contribute to the computing community with advice and help for everyone.
Please check back often for updates and look out for my up and coming youtube channel.